Word around the campfire is that the CIA set up certain musical groups in the sixties and later in an effort to shape the culture by various means...drugs, anti-government attitudes, racial division, sexual division, etc.
Laurel Canyon is said to be the derp nest where many musicians were hatched. We discussed this some time ago and The Grateful Dead was mentioned.
I think it was my flawless instincts (ha) that made me hate those grungy, hippie, no talent derps.
Laurel Canyon was where the LA groups were hatched. Palo Alto, Haight Ashbury, and later Ken Kesey’s ranch in Eugene, OR was where the Norcal crowd hung out. So important that they started in Palo ALto because that’s where all the acid was coming from at first. Later, Augustus Stanley Owsley III became the big underground acid manufacturer, kind of the real life breaking bad, but then he got busted, but served only a little time and became the Dead’s head sound man. Spooks, all of them. Groups who travel are great for carrying clandestine messages from town to town. Performers been spooks forever.
How bout Jeff “Skunk” Baxter who, when not playing guitar for the Doobie Brothers writes national security papers on electronic security for the department of defense.